Episode 01: What is Bestseller Confessions?

The 6 Secrets Behind the Success of Best Selling Authors.

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today are responsible for some of the most successful authors today. These best-selling authors have the added advantage of traditional publishers with mega publicity and marketing budgets. It’s just not fair, is it? Today, you will find out the secrets behind their success. Regular self-published authors, like you, can leverage these steps to make a great living from their books. In the Bestseller Confessions Podcast, Ken Dunn, a major Crime Detective, Police Interrogator, Author, and Publisher squeezes the secrets out of bestselling authors and finally levels the playing field for everybody.

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1. Write an Amazing Book

Every author, either traditional or self-published wants to write an amazing book. Most, if not all, authors are actually driven by the belief that their books are amazing. Unfortunately, for most selfpublished authors, the decision to write an amazing book is often the last logical step they make in their endeavor. All you can think about is the moment when you hold that book in your hands. Does that sound familiar? It explains why a talented author would decide to hire an editor with no professional editing experience whatsoever. It could be a friend, a local English teacher or even cheap freelancer. These people will only offer “proofreading”. They will correct errors such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. Proofreading is completely different from editing. In addition to proofreading, a professional book editor will focus on the plot of the story. An editor lays emphasis on your hero’s journey (fictional books) or reader’s journey (non-fiction books). They ensure your readers remain engrossed in the entire book, from cover to cover. When a book is truly amazing, somebody who doesn’t know you will recommend it to someone else who doesn’t know you. No metric beats such a sincere referral where there are no strings attached, no incentives or commission promised.

2. Build a Major Following

It is imperative for any author today to build a following and to keep them engaged. Capture and keep their attention; the success of your book depends on it. Prolific best-selling authors such as JK Rowling and Patricia Cornwell have a massive following on Twitter and Facebook, respectively. They strive to engage their audience. The readers are happy to be part of the authors’ journeys. Ken is building a massive Facebook following on his page – Bestseller Confessions. In a week, he has managed to grow his following by 10,000. He intends to have over a million followers within a year. That will translate to 1M+ authors all eager to develop the right strategies to create and publish successful books. In a paper called “A Thousand True Fans”, Kevin Kelly notes that as an author, you only need 1000 True Fans. Specifically, a True Fan is willing to spend $100 per year on your products. Collectively, the figures described raise $100,000. That’s a six-figure income, which most selfpublished authors don’t get to enjoy.

3. Create an Email List

Despite the evolution of email over the years, the purpose here is very precise: offer personalized communication. Emails allow you to engage with your readers on a one-on-one basis. Send them weekly and monthly updates to keep them engaged. For most authors, the biggest fear is to invest in emails only to end up on the audiences’ spam list. Look at it this way: if your readers were willing to provide you with their email addresses, it means they trust you and they would like to engage with you. Maintain that trust. You can also use emails to run promotions and make sales.

4. Develop Related Products

The most renowned authors are not just involved in writing, publishing, and sale of books. They have developed related products such as t-shirts, hats, and online courses. The product doesn’t need to be profitable, it just needs to raise awareness about your book and brand as a whole. JK Rowling, for example, is actively involved in fundraising and donating to charities. Aside from building her reputation as one of the most philanthropic authors in the world, it helps to promote her book and grow her following.

5. Have a Launch Offer

Successful traditionally published authors always develop a launch offer to hype the reception of their book. It marks the reason why 90% of the bestselling books achieve their success in the first month. Bookstores all want to be part of the launch and a good launch offer helps to boost sales. With a great following and a massive email list, you can promote your launch offer and build up the anticipation for your new book. Launch offers are limitless. It could be an invite to a private reading session, a podcast interview, or even a special training.

6. Maximize your Publicity

Lastly, Ken discovered that publicity is an integral part of bestselling authors. Media channels are the perfect avenues to promote yourself and your book. Today, media outlets have greatly evolved. Podcasts have become one of the most popular media channels. Ken’s podcast “Bestseller Confessions” is one of the millions of podcasts available on the internet. In the US, 44% of the population (124 million) has listened to a podcast. Bob Burg and John David Mann, co-authors of “The Go Giver” foresaw this massive growth years ago. They decided to invest their time, money and effort in every podcast interview they could land. It was all in a bid to grow their audience and sales. The risk paid off and the duo sold millions of books thanks to the podcasts. The playing field is beginning to even out. By implementing the secrets of prolific authors, any author stands to achieve great success. Self-published authors now have a chance to reach the top. The steps described here are just a tip of the iceberg. The Bestseller Confessions podcast will host hundreds of the world’s bestselling authors, who will help you to analyze how these secrets have boosted their careers. Stay tuned!

On this episode Russell talks about knowing the history and math of your industry to be able to grow your business. Here are some awesome things he discusses in today’s episode:

Why knowing the history of your industry will make it easier for you to market and grow your business.

What it means to know the math of your business and why that helps it magically grow.

And Why it’s important to remember that you are not entitled to success just because you worked hard.

So listen here to find out why if you know the history and math of your industry, you are more likely to have success within it.

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Join author and publisher Ken Dunn as he uncovers the secrets of bestselling authors and shares their advice on how to sell thousands of copies of your books. Most entrepreneurs don’t love history or math, but when they understand this principle, it’ll make it really, really fun….